Monday, October 29, 2012

Maybe all this promising of offerings to the saints to protect Morbid Anatomy Library from Hurricane Sandy has paid off, though in entirely unpredictable ways? I just found out that our campaign to raise fundsfor The Morbid Anatomy Anthology Volume 1--a lavish, illustrated book which will immortalize in print some of the best of the Morbid Anatomy Presents-- got chosen as a staff pick on Kickstarter!

If you have not already given it a look, you can check it out here; you can also learn more about the project by watching the video above, made by the über-talented Ronni Thomas, creator of The Midnight Archive.

ONCE, we commemorated the dead, left out offerings to feed them and lamps to guide them home. These days, Halloween has drifted far from its roots in pagan and Catholic festivals, and the spirits we appease are no longer those of the dead: needy ghosts have been replaced by costumed children demanding treats.

Over the last century, as Europeans and North Americans began sequestering the dying and dead away from everyday life, our society has been pushing death to the margins. We tune in to television shows about serial killers, but real bodies are hidden from view, edited out of news coverage, secreted behind hospital curtains. The result, as Michael Lesy wrote in his 1987 book The Forbidden Zone, is that when death does occur, “it reverberates like a handclap in an empty auditorium.”

It wasn’t always this way. Death once occurred at home, with friends and family gathered around. Local women were responsible for washing the body and sewing the shroud. People sometimes slept in the same room as corpses, because there was nowhere else to go. In the Middle Ages, cemeteries often acted as the public square: you didn’t just walk on the graves, you ate, drank, traded and sometimes even sang and danced on top of them...

We at Morbid Anatomy are busily invoking Saint Florian--patron saint invoked against fire, floods and drowning, as well as patron saints of firefighters--as we wait out Hurricane Sandy and hope for the best outcome for the central flood-zone-located Morbid Anatomy Library.

Top Image: Saint Florian, 1473 painting by Francesco del Cossa. Found on Wikipedia.

Friday, October 26, 2012

We at Morbid Anatomy are so very excited to announce the forthcoming Morbid Anatomy Anthology--a lavish, illustrated book which will immortalize in print some of the best of the Morbid Anatomy Presents lecture series from the past 5 years. The book, to be co-published by Morbid Anatomy and Strange Attractor Press, will be edited by Morbid Anatomy's Joanna Ebenstein and author, polymath, and many time Observatory-presenter Colin Dickey. By pressing play on the video above, you can learn more.

If you are interested in securing a copy of the book, you can make a donation to our Kickstarter campaign by clicking here; a pledge of $25 or more works essentially as a pre-order, and will secure you a copy of the book, while higher bids will get you a copy of the book as well as additional books by esteemed contributors Zoe Bellof, Mark Dery, Stephen Asma, and Empire of Death's Paul Koudounaris, or signed limited-editions photographs by Morbid Anatomy creator Joanna Ebenstein. Click here to see full list.

Also, for those in the NYC area, tonight we have a fundraising party for the book; this event will feature four mini-lectures by a few of our contributors; Morbid Anatomy's Joanna Ebenstein will give an "Ode to an Anatomical Venus;" Mark Dery will expound on "When Animals Attack!: An Aesop's Fable About Anthropomorphism;" Colin Dickey will regale us with "Some Extraneous Thoughts on Medieval Witches;" and Shannon Taggart will elucidate us with "Documenting the Invisible: Spiritualism, Mediumship and Talking to the Dead." There will also be free cocktails and music complements of the fabulous Friese Undine, and giveaways of wonderful anatomical cutting boards from Kikkerland.

Full details for the event follows, and again, that Kickstarter link is here. Thanks to all of you for your support!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

For those who live in the New York City area and have not already had too much of Morbid Anatomy this season: I would love to see you this Friday at "Relics of the Weird," a book event for Colin Dickey's wonderful Afterlives of the Saints,wherein he will read from the book, and we will show and discuss artifacts of Catholicism drawn from the Morbid Anatomy Library permanent collection.
Full details follow; hope to see you there!

Get your creep on early! Colin Dickey (Afterlives of the Saints, Cranioklepty) and Brooklyn's own Morbid Anatomy will host a night in honor of some of the weirder relics in history, complete with slideshow and Halloween candy.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Greetings all; do any of you lovely Morbid Anatomy readers out there happen to have a high-resolution version of the above image, or know a book that contains it, or another way I might source it? Please send any suggestions to morbidanatomy@gmail.com. Thanks so much!

Condition B+: restoration along vertical and horizontal folds; minor restoration in margins.
Fenneker
designed over three hundred movie posters. His recognizable style drew
largely on German Expressionism combined with a flair of aesthetic
decadence. Written by Fritz Lang, Totentanz is considered by The
Internet Movie Database to be a "lost film [in which] a beautiful
dancer's sexual allure is used by an evil cripple to entice men to their
deaths. Falling in love with one of the potential victims, she is told
by the cripple that he will set her free if her lover, actually a
murderer himself, survives and escapes a bizarre labyrinthe which runs
beneath the cripple's house" (www.imdb.com). Even without a signature,
this poster is clearly the work of Fenneker. Although another image by
Fenneker for this film exists, this particular version is previously
unrecorded.
Estimate $2,000-3,000

Anthropomorphic Insect Shadowbox Workshop: Special Halloween Edition, with Former AMNH Senior Insect Preparator Daisy Tainton
With Daisy Tainton, Former Senior Insect Preparator at the American Museum of Natural History
Dates: Saturday, October 27 (Special Halloween Edition!)
Time: 1 - 4 PM
Admission: $65
***Must RSVP to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com to be added to class list
This class is part of The Morbid Anatomy Art Academy

Today,
join former AMNH Senior Insect Preparator Daisy Tainton for a special
Halloween-themed edition of Observatory's popular Anthropomorphic Insect
Shadowbox Workshop. In this class, students will work with Rhinoceros
beetles: nature's tiny giants. Each student will learn to make--and
leave with their own!--shadowbox dioramas featuring carefully positioned
beetles doing nearly anything you can imagine. Beetles and shadowboxes
are provided, and an assortment of miniature furniture, foods, and other
props will be available to decorate your habitat. Students need bring
nothing, though are encouraged to bring along dollhouse props if they
have a particular vision for their final piece; 1:12 scale work best.

Daisy Taintonwas
formerly Senior Insect Preparator at the American Museum of Natural
History, and has been working with insects professionally for several
years. Eventually her fascination with insects and love of Japanese
miniature food items naturally came together, resulting in cute and
ridiculous museum-inspired yet utterly unrealistic dioramas. Beetles at
the dentist? Beetles eating pie and knitting sweaters? Even beetles on
the toilet? Why not?

Image: "Suicide Beetle," By Daisy Tainton, Teacher of workshop

____________________________________________

Sugar Skull Decorating Workshop and Lecture: El Dia de los Muertos in Context -- How the Day of the Dead Exemplifies the Greater Culture of Death in Mexico
Workshop and lecture with Dru Munsell
Date: Monday, October 29
Time: 8:00
Admission: $50
Produced by Morbid Anatomy
**** Class size limited; must RSVP to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com

Mexico
possesses a rich and complex relationship with death that extends far
beyond the Day of the Dead holiday and its iconic sugar skulls. Indeed,
from Mexico's indigenous Mayans through her occupations and revolutions,
death has taken a leading role in the formation of the country's varied
culture, causing scholar Claudio Lomnitz to even name Death as the
symbol of Mexico's national identity.

The lecture portion of this
workshop seeks to facilitate a deeper understanding not only of Southern
Mexico's sugar skulls and El Dia de los Muertos as a whole, but also
framing what is often thought of as the Mexican version of Halloween
within the greater context of a culture that has blended indigenous
practices, colonization's Catholic religion, and the subsequent
revolutions and violence, recognizing death as a necessary part of life
not to be ignored or feared, but embraced and celebrated.
For this
workshop, each attendee will be provided with a blank, undecorated
sugar skull, fully assembled, dried, and ready to decorate. Royal icing
in bright colors as well as other traditional decorative materials such
as sequins and colored foils will be provided. Each attendee is
encouraged to bring any personal decorating items they wish to use if
they are making a skull for a specific departed individual, though
smaller items are recommended. Traditional themes and patterns will be
discussed, as well as decoration application techniques. At the end of
the workshop, each person will have their own large sugar skull to take
home. Because of the drying time involved with the royal icing, it is
advised that skulls be left at Observatory to dry and set, and that
finished skulls be picked up at the annual El Dia de los Muertos party.
Extra blank skulls will be available for purchase for those interested,
as well as directions for making the royal icing recipe that is
recommended for skull decoration.

Dru Munsell is a
biological anthropology degree candidate at Columbia University
specializing in forensics, pathological human anatomy, and cultural
fetish and taboo. She examines these topics in her thesis on the
intersection of science and spectacle as literally embodied by both the
"born different" and "working acts" of sideshow and circus performance.
Dru currently works as an intern for the Morbid Anatomy Library as well
as a scientific consultant, archivist, transcriber, and
Jane-of-all-Trades for James Taylor's Shocked & Amazed: On and Off
the Midway. After completing her studies, she plans to either work with
the governmental agency, DMORT, doing body identification at scenes of
mass death with a particular interest in the mass graves of
post-colonial revolutions and genocides in Latin America, or running
away and joining the circus.

Please
join us on Saturday, November 3 for the annual Observatory
Halloween/Day of the Dead costume party! This year we will welcome back
the ghosts of the dead in the tradition of our favorite holiday--the Mexican Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead--with Aztec dances and chants, traditional foods and drink, tacos catered by local favorite taqueria Oaxaca, episodes of The Midnight Archive, tequila, music, sugar skulls, our beloved La Catrina,
a Day of the Dead Altar honoring the late Chavela Vargas and Neil
Armstrong and, as always, an opportunity to strike a mortal blow to our
beautiful piñata of Lady Death herself! There will also be, as
always, the opportunity to don--and admire other!--amazing Day of the
Dead-themed costumes.

Pan de Muerto: Indulge in this traditional dessert called Bread of Death

Piñata: Dash death to smithereens with our annual death piñata!

Sugar skulls: Decorate and eat or bring home your own Day of the Dead sugar skull

Offerings to the Departed:
In some places in Mexico, people leave small, coffin-like figures out
for the souls of the departed. Guests are invited to leave their own
offering; they will be available at the installation.

For photos from last years' party, click here. Hope very much to see you there.
Image: Rebeca Olguín

Friday, October 19, 2012

For those in London and environs: I would love to see you next month at "Seize the Day," a special Day of the Dead inspired program taking place at my all-time favorite institution, The Wellcome Collection, on the evening of Friday, November 2. I will be giving an illustrated talk as part of the wonderful-looking evenings line-up that will also include drinking, dancing, and general death-related merriment.

Experience a brush with death at our special Friday-night late, and explore what death has to tell us about life. If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what would you choose to do today? How would you like to be remembered after you die? And what would you like to achieve before you go? Ponder these questions while enjoying stimulating talks, enchanting stories from around the world and activities throughout the galleries. Enjoy a drink while listening to a Dixieland jazz band. Decorate a coffin, pick up some dance steps in our special ‘Last Dance’ class and design your ideal fantasy funeral. Join us to embrace the inevitability of death and celebrate while we still can!

Featuring:

• Joanna Ebenstein, founder of the Morbid Anatomy blog and library, on facing up to death through art

• David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk, University of Cambridge, on the statistics of death

• Frank Swain, author of ‘Zombology: The new science of zombies, reanimation and mind control’ on science’s investigations into the final frontier

Thanks to good friend and genius writer Richard Faulk--author of the unfortunately named but no less wonderful Gross America--The Morbid Anatomy Library has just been awarded the dubious honor of being voted one of the top 7 "Grossest Wonders of the USA" on CNN.

You can read Mr. Faulk's entire list, and his entry on The Morbid Anatomy Library, by clicking here. You can find out more about the elegantly and eruditely written book--and even buy a copy of your own!--by clicking here.

To find out more about the library, click here; for those curious to see this "weird art and antique medicine cum gallery and lecture space [which] hosts occasional classes in anthropmorphic taxidermy," please stop by open hours this Sunday, 1-6. More on that here.

The website I09 just published a very nice ode to all things Anatomical Wax, drawing heavily from the Morbid Anatomy Archives; Highly recommended! Check it out by clicking here; all images drawn from that post.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

If you are interested in knowing more about anatomical waxes, you could do worse than to check out today's entry, "Waxing Lyrical," on The Science Museum's "Stories from the Stores" blog to read conservator Emily Yates' account of cleaning this circa 1818 Italian wax by by Francesco Calenzuoli for the wonderful looking exhibition Doctors, Dissection and Resurrection Men at the Museum of London, running until 14 April 2013.

You can find out more about this particular piece by clicking here; click on images to see much larger, finer versions. Caption reads: This anatomical wax model shows the internal organs, the heart is entirely removable, made by Francesco Calenzuoli (1796-1821) ( Science Museum, London )

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

This Sunday, October 21, the Morbid Anatomy Library (seen above) will be hosting
open, no-appointment-necessary drop in hours from 1 to 6. So feel free
to drop in for a perusal of the stacks and and rifling through the drawers.

For more about the Morbid Anatomy Library and for directions and other such information, click here.

The aim of the exhibition is, above all, to introduce to the public the hitherto unknown space of the crypt for benefactors beneath the church of the Nativity of Our Lord. A fascinating discovery in the crypt revealed unique Baroque mural paintings depicting motifs of Death and Resurrection – allegories of Time, symbols of fragility and transience of human existence. These frescos of exceptional quality were created in 1664 by the means of the special technique of chiaroscuro – employing exclusively the shades of black and grey. The work of their author, perhaps a Capuchin order painter, was derived from the Flemish and Dutch prints and was commissioned by the then patroness of Loreto, Countess Elisabeth Apollonia of Kolowrat. The main scene depicting the Raising of Lazarus was based on the famous etching by Rembrandt, which later inspired numerous artists across the centuries, including Van Gogh – the Loreto fresco is remarkable because it is a very early reaction to Rembrandt’s work created while he was still alive...

... Part of the presentation will be dedicated to other interesting exhibits associated with the burial practices in Loreto – for example the unknown ground plan of the Lobkowicz crypt of patrons beneath Santa Casa, design of Castrum Doloris created in 1698 for the burial of the Count Václav Ferdinand of Lobkowicz, collection of the Baroque funerary textiles or several reliquary crosses which were part of the Loreto treasure and had not yet been exhibited.

The exhibition will also introduce the customs related to burying in the Capuchin order crypts. Borrowed for this occasion from the Brno crypt were Baroque coffin lids with painted decoration, portraits and coats of arms of selected donors who sought their final resting place with the Capuchins. The perception of the order spirituality of Franciscan observance in the funerary sphere is broadened by the presentation of two Baroque Franciscan convent mortuaries.

It rarely happens that an entirely unknown monument in the centre of Prague is discovered. The Loreto exhibition offers an opportunity to get more closely acquainted with the impressive crypt space decorated with unique paintings and with the Baroque ARS MORIENDI – The Art of Dying – the inner grasp of the end of human existence as a gate to eternal life.

You can find out more here. Thanks so much to Pam Grossman for letting me know about this!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

I took the photos you see above over a series of trips to Los Angeles to document the fascinating phenomonon of Santa Muerte, a sacred figure worshipped as part of the larger pantheon of Catholic saints in Mexico and now also, with the wave of Mexican migrants, in the United States as well. Thought to have its roots in a syncretism of the beliefs of the native Latin Americans and the colonizing Spanish Catholics, the name literally means "Holy Death" or "Saint Death," and she--also fondly referred to as "The Skinny Lady--tends to be worshipped by disenfranchised members of society such as criminals, prostitutes, transvestites, the very poor, and other people for whom conventional Catholicism has not provided a better or safer life.

Doing some research into the matter, I recently stumbled upon Frank Graziano's Cultures of Devotion: Folk Saints of Spanish America, which offers fascinating insight into the genesis of both Santa Muerte and the very similar San La Muerte tradition, which developed independently from a similar native/Catholic syncretism in other areas of Latin America; I also would give anything to see one of the bizarre theatrical productions described below:

In the Jesuit missions, the publication of many books included, in 1705, a translation of Juan Eusebio Nieremberg'sDe la Diferencia Entre lo Temporal y Eterno. Among the engravings in the book was one of a triumphant personified death, holding a sickle (a variation on the scythe) in one and and an hourglass in the other. Death as a skeleton also appears in another image, which was likewise copied from a European original.

These engravings document the presence of the Grim Reaper in the missions, but more important in folk culture were theatrical productions staged by the Jesuits for the Guaranís' religious instruction. The performances often included Christ's resurrection, with props of skulls and bones and with the Grim Reaper in the supporting cast for dramatization of Christ's triumph over death. Such performances contributed to fixing the personified image of death within a religious context.

Almost all the artists in Jesuit missions were Guaranís who were trained by Europeans. These indigenous carvers of saints thought of their work more religiously than artistically: "Image-makers quite literally believed that they were making saints and gods." This observation is particularly suggestive in the context of San La Muerte, whose traditionalal carvers were likewise creating, not representing, a supernatural power. For the Guaraní mission artists, "The reality of things was not expressed by imitating their visual appearance, as in European art, but by capturing their essence." The imagery, including the image of death personified, was adopted from European traditions and then invested with this "essence." The carvings transcend mere representation and become empowered in themselves like amulets.

All of this also brings to mind the wonderful 18th century book La Portentosa Vida de la Muerte (The Astounding Life of Death); more on that here.

All photos you see above are from my trips to Los Angeles to document the Santa Muerta phenomenon; for more, click here to see my complete Flickr set.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Greetings, all. I am currently working on a project that requires hi-resolution images of Stereo-Diableries or Phantasmagoria slides. If anyone thinks they might be able to help, please email me at morbidanatomy@gmail.com. Thank you very much!

Image: Front and back lit Stereo-Diableries, found on the London Stereoscopic Company website; see more there by clicking here.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Cocktails and "Gross America!" Morbid Anatomy Library Open Studios! Films that influenced the Quay Brothers! "Morbid Anatomy Compendium"--published in tandem with Strange Attractor Press--" Fundraising and launch Party! Insect Shadowboxes for Halloween! Sugar skull workshop! Day of the Dead Costume Party with tequila, traditional altar, Aztec dances and our annual Lady Death Piñata! Macabre New York! Mark Pilkington of Strange Attractor Press on the abuses of enchantment an occult British music! Morbid Anatomy presents for the upcoming week and beyond:

"Gross America" Book Launch PartyAn Illustrated Lecture and Book Signing with Richard Faulk, with Music and Cocktails by Friese Undine
Date: **** Thursday, October 11 (NOTE DATE CHANGE)
Time: 8:00
Admission: $5
Produced by Morbid Anatomy
*** Copies of Gross America will be available for sale and signing

Don’t
judge a book by its cover. And don’t judge this collection of American
oddities solely by their gross exterior. With wit and insight backed up
by meticulous research, Gross America,
the debut book by genial polymath Richard Faulk, takes you places you
thought you never wanted to see, to unearth stories you’d never
imagined.

What is Gross America?
Gross America is toothsome concoction of science and nature trivia,
served with a side of sagacity and wit, and delivered in an irresistibly
putrescent bundle.

No, really: What is Gross America?
Ok, it’s a travel guide to the grossest sites our 50 states have to
offer. Sniff out the chemical secrets of the celebrated “sperm tree” of
Los Angeles; gaze into the innards of North America’s sole surviving
anatomical Venus; thumb the pages of a prison memoir bound in the
memoirist’s own skin; or sneak a peek into the chamber pot used by the
real-life Uncle Sam.

And those are just a fraction of the potential verb-object parings made possible by this nasty little book.

On top of being a sheer joy to read (he wrote modestly), Gross America
offers an introduction to the wild nature of our 50 states and a window
into some of the more perplexing moments of science, past and present.
It will answer questions you might never have realized you had, and
change the way you think about things you never wanted to think about in
the first place.

You may never look at toxic waste the same way again.

Why should I come to the release party?
Well, at the very least, you’ll probably get drunk. There will be
music, too. There will also be a discussion, and you will be able to ask
the author impertinent questions about his book, and you will become
intrigued enough to buy it. Which you will also be able to do.

RICHARD FAULK
is a writer, editor, and Observatory habitué. A onetime time-travel
columnist and occasional education reporter, he has also written about
Vikings for Australian tweens, covered academic conferences for Columbia
University, and celebrated the films of Pam Grier in Penthouse. He now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he thinks deeply about trivial matters.

Morbid Anatomy Library Open StudiosDates: Saturday October 13 and Sunday October 14
Time: 12-6
Admission: FREE
Produced by Morbid Anatomy

This
weekend, October 13th and 14th, please join the Morbid Anatomy Library
as we join dozens of other Gowanus-based galleries and artist studios in
opening our spaces to the public for the Gowanus Artists Studio Tour,
or "A.G.A.S.T."
So stop by, peruse the stacks, take a gander at
the human articulated skeleton, and join us for a glass (or 3) of cheap
red wine.

Directions: Enter the Morbid Anatomy Library and Observatory via Proteus Gowanus GalleryR or M train to Union Street in Brooklyn: Walk
two long blocks on Union (towards the Gowanus Canal) to Nevins Street.
543 Union Street is the large red brick building on right. Go right on
Nevins and left down alley through large black gates. Gallery is the
second door on the left.

F or G train to Carroll Street: Walk
one block to Union. Turn right, walk two long blocks on Union towards
the Gowanus Canal, cross the bridge, take left on Nevins, go down the
alley to the second door on the left.

You can find out more information about A.G.A.S.T., and get a full list of participants, by clicking here. You can find out more about Observatory and the exhibition now on view by clicking here.

Next weekend, October 13th and 14th, please join the Morbid Anatomy Library and Observatory as we join dozens of other Gowanus-based galleries and artist studios in opening our spaces to the public for the Gowanus Artists Studio Tour, or "A.G.A.S.T."

So stop by to say hello, peruse the stacks, take a gander at the skeleton, join us in a glass of cheap red wine, and take in some "spirit art!"

Following are the full details: Hope very much to see you there.

Gowanus Artists Studio Tour (A.G.A.S.T.)
Saturday October 13th and Sunday October 14th 12-6
543 Union Street at Nevins, Brooklyn
Free and Open to the Public

R or M train to Union Street in Brooklyn: Walk two long blocks on Union (towards the Gowanus Canal) to Nevins Street. 543 Union Street is the large red brick building on right. Go right on Nevins and left down alley through large black gates. Gallery is the second door on the left.

F or G train to Carroll Street: Walk one block to Union. Turn right, walk two long blocks on Union towards the Gowanus Canal, cross the bridge, take left on Nevins, go down the alley to the second door on the left.

You can find out more information about A.G.A.S.T., and get a full list of participants, by clicking here. You can find out more about Observatory and the exhibition now on view by clicking here.

Event details
Ross MacFarlane is Academic Engagement Officer at the Wellcome Library, London.
Pharmacist, philanthropist – and Fellow of the Royal Society – Sir Henry Wellcome is now widely recognised as one of the most acquisitive of collectors during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. But Wellcome’s collection of historical objects was not the work of one man acting alone. This talk will aim to bring forth from the shadows of his store rooms the men and women who bid, bought, and collected in Wellcome’s name.

Attending this event
This event is free to attend and open to all. No tickets are required. Doors open at 12:30pm and seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.
Recorded audio will be available on this page a few days afterwards.Enquiries: Contact the events team.

This event is free and open to the public. To find out more, click here.